


Stuck Watching the Otters

by DaltonG



Series: Ficlet Imbroglio [7]
Category: Cabin Pressure
Genre: Fandot Creativity, Ficlet, M/M, Pre-Slash, Skipthur
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-08-01
Updated: 2015-08-01
Packaged: 2018-04-12 09:15:41
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 647
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4473695
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/DaltonG/pseuds/DaltonG
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Martin and Arthur at the zoo.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Stuck Watching the Otters

**Author's Note:**

> Fandot Creativity Night (a 15-minute challenge)
> 
> Prompt: “head” and/or “stuck”

“Arthur, didn’t you hear me calling for you? We’re going to be late!”

“Oh yes, Skip, I definitely heard you calling!”

“Well, let’s go! If we leave right now, we’ll just barely make it to the airport in time for me to do G-ERTI’s walk-around before we take off.”

“Well, Skip, I’d love to do that, I really would.”

“So what’s stopping you!”

“Er…I seem to be a little…well…stuck.”

Martin looked more carefully at where Arthur was pushed up against the bars of the Otter Exhibit.

“Stuck? What do you mean stuck? What’s stuck? How did you get stuck? Oh, Arthur…your head’s stuck, isn’t it?”

Arthur tried to twist around to look at Martin, but he couldn’t really turn his head that far, as the back half was firmly wedged between two black bars. He managed to look sharply out the right corners of his eyes. Then he blinked rapidly because that kind of hurt.

“Can you help me?”

“Oh, Arthur, how do you get yourself into these things?” Martin reached through the bars nearby and started trying to push his palm on Arthur’s forehead.

“Well, the otters were playing in the water–- _ow_ -–and they had hold of something, but I couldn’t see what it was, so I tried to get a little–- _OW!_ -–closer look, and it turns out they have a phone, Skip! They’re taking selfies! _OWWW._ ”

“It’s wedged tight, Arthur. It’s not coming out.”

“Well, what if I…”

“No, Arthur, don’t do that–”

“There!” Arthur had pushed his head all the way through. Now his neck was between the bars and he was able to turn and look at Martin with a triumphant grin. “Not stuck!”

Martin noticed that a small crowd had gathered behind them. People were videotaping them on their phones.

“Look, Mama! It’s a man! Can I feed him?” A small girl pointed at Arthur and gestured with a bag of generic zoo pellets.

“Arthur, you are in fact, still stuck.”

“No I’m not! I can move my head all around now!” Arthur rolled his head to demonstrate.

“Yes, but we can’t get you away from the fence, now can we.”

“Oh.” Arthur’s whole face fell as he finally realized his predicament. “Well…at least I can watch the otters…”

It was several hours before the zoo officials were able to bring in a metalworker. By then, Carolyn had rescheduled the flight (having to provide a significant discount to the client, meaning they wouldn’t even break even on that flight, making her mood rather darker than usual) and was standing looking extremely stern and ordering the metalworker to be careful, every couple of minutes. Douglas was standing nearby, drinking a soda and not even trying to hide his delighted amusement.

And Martin had been allowed into the otter exhibit, where he stood patiently, facing the otters and providing a shoulder rest for Arthur’s head, which was drooping from hours of extension on one very tired, and very stuck, neck.

“This is kind of nice, Skip,” Arthur said into Martin’s ear. His breath was warm and Martin shivered, not for the first time. “We should do this more often.”

“Perhaps not between bars at the otter exhibit, though?”

Arthur laughed softly. “Yeah, maybe not.”

“Okay, lads, careful now, last cut,” the metalworker called as he finally burned through the bottom section of the bar. “There you go, you’re free!” He carefully removed the bar so that the hot ends didn’t touch either of the people standing so close.

“Thank you, Skip. You’re the best.” Arthur brushed his lips ever-so-softly against Skip’s cheek before he pulled away. Carolyn grabbed her son into a too-tight hug, Douglas and the gathered crowd applauded and cheered, and Martin touched his fingers to his cheek, turning to look at Arthur in wonder.

Maybe visiting the zoo wasn’t as boring as he thought.

**Author's Note:**

> Previously published on [Tumblr](http://daltongraham.tumblr.com/post/124431284664/stuck-watching-the-otters).


End file.
